


offensive

by ivelostmyspectacles



Series: TMA High School AU [2]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullied Jon, Gen, Pre-Friendship, Protective Tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 16:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19949545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/ivelostmyspectacles
Summary: “I’m not going tohityou, Jon. Jesus Christ.”





	offensive

**Author's Note:**

> this is still in the tma high school au but if you've read the lonely eyes one, not the same timeline!! like. lonely eyes have graduated before archival team ends up in secondary, so no paths crossing that way

Tim cuts a warpath through the crowd gathered outside the front door. Most people move, but the ones that don’t get shoved aside; he doesn’t care what happens to them, in the moment, when they’re all just standing around useless, doing nothing.

 _Yes,_ he knows Jon is a prime target for this kind of shit, but it doesn’t _change_ the fact.

“Hey.” He ducks out of the way of a fist rearing back for another blow, catches the guy’s wrist, and _yanks_ him a step away from Jon. “Pick on someone your own size.”

Tim is _not_ this guy’s size, which, to his credit, the other guy realizes _fast_ as he looks up at Tim. Tim watches the torment and glee drain from his face, along with the color, and then he shoves him another foot away.

“No?” He tilts his head, a silent inquiry. Jon’s still hovering near the wall, hand to his face. Tim takes a step back towards him, and the rest of the bullies start to disperse. “Shame,” he continues, “I was _really_ ready to kick some punk arse today.”

Yeah, he’s talking a bit big. He’s only been in two fights in his life. But he’s willing. He’ll go in knowing he’ll win. There’s only a couple kids here that have height on him, and Tim still thinks he could take them. 

Better than Jon can, anyway.

He’s going to have a black eye, that’s for sure. But Tim guesses he’s lucky he didn’t get a bloody nose out of it this time. He can’t quite suss out how he’s feeling when he realizes Jon’s watching him just as uncertainly as he’d been the bullies as they’d scattered.

“What?”

“Come to hit me, too, then, have you?” Jon says, and for being so goddamn quiet all the time, where does that _attitude_ come from??

And that isn’t fair. Sure, he likes to fuck with him, a little, but it’s always harmless. Jon _is_ a good target. But Tim likes nudging his books off the desk or giving him the wrong homework assignment or stealing his glasses for a bit. Harmless.

“I’m not going to _hit_ you, Jon. Jesus Christ.” Now he just feels _bad._ “Here.” He collects his glasses from the ground and kicks himself when he catches sight of how _wary_ Jon still is. That bit’s fair. But he’s _not_ stealing them today. He’s not. He always gives them back, anyway.

He is a bit impatient as Jon reaches out a trembling hand, and then snatches the frames from him all at once.

“Why did you help me?”

Tim blinks, and glances over his shoulder. Everyone’s already dispersed. “Sorry, did you want me to call them back or something?”

Jon shoves his glasses back on and pushes his hair out of his face. “We’re not _friends.”_

He wonders. The times he, Jon, Martin, and Sasha have all sat together at lunch. Or the occasional after-school study session. The even more occasional skipping maths to go buy Jon and Martin Maccies when they get their fucking lunches stolen again. “I don’t think you know what friends are, Jon,” he says, and scoops Jon’s bag from the pavement to offer it to him.

Jon just scowls, insofar as much as he can with a bruising face and a busted lip. He grabs his bag from Tim and starts back into school, and Tim pretends he doesn’t notice how he favors his left more than his right, and doesn’t wonder about what other punches those pricks got in before he’d showed up.

It doesn’t bear thinking, because he’ll run himself in circles worrying about all of them. He already _has_ been running himself in circles. For not wanting to worry himself over them, God, does he. 

Tim sighs, and follows Jon back into school.

**Author's Note:**

> anyway Jon gets picked on/bullied a lot in secondary, can't prove me wrong (Martin's always the one who runs to find Tim when he senses trouble brewing [this only applies if Jon's the one in danger, and not if he's being tormented himself])


End file.
